Testing Drinking Water for Lead in Schools and Daycare Facilities
Who Needs to Test Their Drinking Water for Lead?
Most Illinois elementary schools and day care centers are required to test their drinking water sources for lead.
School buildings constructed before 1987 and daycare centers constructed before 2000, that serve children under 6 years of age, are required to test their drinking water. Sampling requirements for daycare centers are slightly different from schools.
Most people can perform the sampling themselves. See the links below for step by step instructions or contact us for additional information.
Teklab, Inc. has tested over 20,000 drinking water samples from local daycare and school facilities. We can help you through this process.
A copy of Public Act 099-0922 is available to download here. Much of the 39 page document discusses funding. Pages 14 - 20 focus primarily on the logistics of the requirement (who, what, when, etc.).
Additional information:
Any laboratory testing for the presence of lead in drinking water must be accredited.
In Illinois they must be accredited by the Illinois EPA. Teklab is IEPA accredited for a wide variety of parameters including drinking water lead.
Click
here to see a list of our NELAP accredited methods.
Teklab's experienced Project Management team is always available to discuss your specific needs and to provide a
quote for our services if needed. Give our Director of Customer Service, Liz Hurley, a call at 877-344-1003
Ext 33, email at gettheleadout@teklabinc.com to find out how we can help.
If you need further help understanding your requirements, the EPA document
3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools is a great reference tool. For schools with budgetary constraints, page 28
(Section 4) provides an easy to understand explanation of how to collect samples yourself. Please note, however, the "3Ts" document is slightly different from the Illinois law. The law requires
a 'second draw' after 30 seconds. The "3Ts" document only requires the second draw if the first result is high. If you have any problems viewing and/or downloading the manual, please give us a call and
we will email you a copy. Also the following
EPA Drinking Water Webpage provides easy to follow guidance on the new requirements.
Tribune news services. (2017, January 16th). "Gov. Rauner signs school, day care lead-testing
law." Chicago Times. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/
"3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities. A Training, Testing, and Taking Action Approach. revised manual 2018" United State Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Water.